Blackout

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Lately I have been more aware of what I'm eating even if what I am eating happens to be not so good for me. Today mom took us out for all-you-can-eat Chinese and I had an absolute blackout when it came to being mindful of what I put in my body. For some reason I completely forgot to remember portion control and healthy substitutions which is what I have been working on as far as my diet goes. I piled my plate up and went back for seconds. It wasn't till I got out of the restaurant that I realized how I completely skipped over the salad bar and how a got an extra large portion of the coconut shrimp! So uh, needless to say I just ignored the nutrition tracker all together, I can just assume I was in calorie overload today, but I got my consciousness in check and if there is a next time; which I am really thinking I am not ready to go out for meals at this point; at least next time I can be mindful of what I am doing and be more strategic in my food choices.

Thanks so much everyone. @Jen that is some great ideas for out-to-eat strategies, I especially like the pick three rule and I think that I will be using that but I also do take advantage of the home advantage because preparing foods at home is much healthier than the restaurant versions.

I have a couple of suggestions from what I have learned so far. I am in a program that has classes etc. for people who have a BMI of 35+. Some of those people are hoping to qualify for weight loss surgery, but not only a few will get it either by their own choice or because there is a shortage of surgery spots. So we all learn what to do as if we will not get the surgery. First of all, the Chinese buffet was a long time ago now, its over, don't feel any guilt. Use it as an opportunity to learn instead.

One of the first things I learned, maybe even at orientation is that variety normally = eating more. You can think of this in terms of doughnuts, if you have a box of 12 chocolate covered doughnuts you won't eat as many as a box of assorted doughnuts, because we will feel like we have had enough of the chocolate ones, and if there is another variety we will be tempted to try "Just (half) of one of those...and end up eating more than we wanted to. The same goes for buffets, but I understand it would take a lot of coconut shrimp to get tired of it. I learned that you need to look over the buffet and pick a maximum of 3 foods you are going to eat, one should be very healthy, one or two moderate or if one is really bad - deep fried perhaps only have half of what you would normally. Salad bars are full of calories too so learn before you go. One plate max - share a dessert if you didn't eat any of that "bad" food. And be very careful of what you drink. Drink calories sneak up fast. This is unrealistic for some people and for those people avoid the buffet. Seriously, people can easily consume 10,000 calories at a Chinese buffet if they leave feeling stuffed and had anything besides water to drink.

Another thing I have learned is that I want to have the home advantage as much as possible. This means I want my food prepared at home so I know exactly what is in it. My program recommends that you limit eating out to twice a month, and when you do - don't think of it as a treat day, stay in control. You may want to take a calendar and count up all of the "its okay - its a birthday, wedding, Christmas party, Valentines day etc. that there are in a year, you will be surprised if you can think of all the celebrations that you can run across in a year. If I overate at all of the ones I came up with I would gain 30lbs a year. An extra 2500 calories is all it takes to put on a pound.

We will all have times where we slip up...but what makes us successful is recognizing it and moving on and making a better choice next time! :) Which I think you're doing!! Keep fighting! You'll get there!

Awww it happens to all of us. Sometimes we need to just eat what we like and what we want....as long as this is not an everyday thing or an every week thing. Tomorrow is a new day Diva! So start fresh. I think you should try to track what you ate. Seeing it will help put things in perspective with calorie intake for the day.